Looking Back, Looking Forward

We spent this week talking about Harlan Ellison’s Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. It is a chaotic little story about time, rebellion and what it costs to resist. It got us thinking about how much of our own lives are ruled by schedules and how easily we accept them. The conversation ended up going from jellybeans to industrial revolutions to Breaking Bad and somehow it all made sense in the end.

Next week we are switching gears but sticking with dystopia. Demolition Man takes us into a shiny sanitized future where swearing is illegal, physical contact is banned and everything dangerous or uncomfortable has been scrubbed away. It is pure 90s action but it is also a weirdly sharp critique of control and safety culture.

New Episode Out Now: Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman

What happens when a society is so obsessed with punctuality that being late is a crime? And what happens when one chaotic figure decides to fight back with jellybeans?

Our new episode dives into Harlan Ellison’s Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. We talk about rebellion, time anxiety, the 1960s counterculture, and why this strange, whimsical story still hits hard today. Expect tangents on Breaking Bad, history, and why meetings make us miserable.

What Would You Do With Your Time?

Imagine living in a world where being late is illegal. Not just frowned upon but punishable. Every second of your life tracked, every heartbeat counted, and someone always watching the clock.

Would you follow the rules? Or would you throw jellybeans at the system?

This Thursday on Dystopedia we are looking at Harlan Ellison’s Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. It is chaotic, playful, and angrier than it first appears. We are talking about time, rebellion, and what it costs to resist.

Time, Jellybeans, and Total Rebellion

Last week we talked about Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and how scary it is when people follow tradition without thinking.

This Thursday we are looking at Harlan Ellison’s Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. It is a story about a world obsessed with punctuality where being late is literally a crime and one chaotic figure, the Harlequin, fights back by throwing jellybeans at the system.

We will get into Ellison’s hatred of the 9 to 5 grind, why the story feels so strange to read, and how its 1960s counterculture energy still feels relevant now. There are also tangents about Breaking Bad, time anxiety, and why meetings drive us mad.

🎙️ New Episode: The Lottery – Obedience Without Question

This week on Dystopedia, we go back to 1948 and take a closer look at Shirley Jackson’s chilling short story, The Lottery.

It’s deceptively simple. And that might be the most frightening part.

A story about tradition, obedience, and the quiet horror of following the rules without question. It’s uncomfortable, unsettling, and it leaves you wondering what we are all capable of under the right conditions.

In this episode, we explore:

Cold War paranoia and social conformity

Gender roles and women’s inequality

The psychology of obedience

The dark comfort of tradition

🎧 Listen now on your favorite podcast app.

What if the most horrific thing your town does… feels completely normal?

We’ve all heard the phrase “this is just how it’s always been.” But what happens when tradition turns deadly — and no one blinks?

Tomorrow, we cover Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery — a story that shocked readers in 1948 and still rattles us today. It’s about rituals, violence, and how a community convinces itself that cruelty is order.

🔍 Why do people obey without question?

🧠 What does this say about mob mentality — and about us?

🎙️ Episode drops Thursday AEST.

Follow @dystopediapod and stay tuned.

This Week on Dystopedia: The Road

This week, we walked through the ash with The Road, a story stripped down to survival, silence, and the fragile fire we carry inside. We talked about love in the face of extinction, morality in a world that no longer rewards it, and how McCarthy holds a mirror up to our deepest fears: What would we do if everything fell apart? Would we still be the good guys?

🎙️ We explored:

• The brutal tenderness between father and son

• The horror of what humanity becomes when there’s nothing left to lose

• And the haunting beauty in carrying on — not because there’s hope, but because there’s love

🪓 Next Week: The Lottery

From one vision of collapse to another — next week we turn to Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. A sunny day, a small town, and a tradition that reveals how violence can hide in plain sight. Where The Road showed us the consequences of societal breakdown, The Lottery shows what happens when society works exactly as it’s meant to.

✨ Expect:

• Mob mentality and ritual violence

• The price of social cohesion

• And why horror hits hardest when it feels ordinary

Stay with us. The fire’s still burning.

“If it comes back, we’ll kill it”

That’s what they tell themselves.

This week we covered 28 Days Later — the collapse. The rage. The moment everything broke and stayed broken. When survival meant abandoning any illusion of order.

But humans are good at pretending.

Next week: 28 Weeks Later.

The quarantine zone. The repopulation. The military checkpoints.

The lie that you can rebuild what’s already rotten.

Because the virus isn’t the only thing that spreads.

Arrogance spreads. Control spreads.

And the worst part?